A Cadet's Account
by Abicion
Summary: What's eating Izumi Noto?
1. A Night on the Town

_"I ain't gonna die 'cause it's a __waste of my time_."

- slowbeef

* * *

Izumi's eyes twitched open to the first rays of morning sunlight. The world appeared slightly blurred when she wasn't wearing her glasses, but she knew Ishiguro was already awake on the pillow next to her, smiling at her as he pet her long brown hair. The couple stayed in bed and remained silent for several minutes, preferring to just gaze lovingly at each other as they cherished their time together. If only the moment could last forever.

This was the last morning they would be able to see each other for at least a few months. He was being deployed with the rest of the ground forces to Kyushu that day, and she was well on her way to the TSF pilot academy. They were going to save the human race together. Once the war was over, they would be able be able to start a family in the peaceful future they helped create.

Izumi's head started to feel a familiar pounding sensation. Her vision became fuzzier than usual even when she tried to squint. A mysterious force slowly drew her head deeper into her pillow and placed invisible weights on her eyelids. She just wanted to go back to sleep...

* * *

Izumi awoke to cockpit diagnostic screens flashing in her face. She took a moment to sit up, fix her glasses, and shake her aching head before she tried her controls. Her TSF made no response and had seemingly been paralyzed in the crash. Her console was a mess of garbled messages that failed to tell her anything about her unit's condition for better or worse, but her dead controls were enough for her to decide it was a lost cause. She was worried about Yui and Kazusa, and sitting around in a disabled unit with no reception wasn't going to get her anywhere. That left her with only one option.

Biting her lip, she picked up the locket she always kept on her dashboard, deactivated her console, and nervously hit the eject button. The outer layer of armor on her Zuikaku's torso popped off in a small explosion, opening a path to the ground below. She almost forgot to collect her sidearm before she slowly climbed out.

Izumi was overwhelmed by trepidation the second her feet touched the ground. Only minutes ago, she had felt practically invincible in the cockpit of her heavily armed and armored Zuikaku. Now she was standing in what may very well be a BETA hive with only a small handgun and her lightly armored pilot suit protecting her. Nothing in her training at the academy had prepared her for feeling this vulnerable.

So many things had already gone wrong for rest of the girls in her class. The battle at Kyoto was going to be the start of a bright and prosperous military career for all of them. It was just going to be a routine support mission, a way to give them some experience on the battlefield just before they graduated. But then the _real _troops on the frontlines fell, and the trainees were suddenly facing the entire invasion force and started dropping like flies. Shimako, Aki, even their squadron commander... They were all gone, slaughtered by the BETA.

In the best case scenario, she, Yui, and Kazusa were the only ones left, and even that was questionable at this point. The last time she had seen her teammates was just before a rogue Fort-class ambushed them in the middle of their retreat and swatted all three of Zuikakus out of the air. Could she be the only survivor? Did anyone even know she was still alive? What if no one came to rescue her?

With one hand around the grip of her gun, she used the other to briefly open her locket and glance at the photo inside. It had been a month since Ishiguro was killed in the Kyushu invasion, and the tiny portrait of the two of them together was the only thing that made her feel like she wasn't completely alone. She closed the locket and held it tightly in her gloved fist.

Using her sidearm's flashlight to study her surroundings, she saw she had landed in one of the lower floors of Kyoto Station. The place had been left in dilapidated ruins after the evacuation, covered in almost pitch black and devoid of any signs of life.

That is, _human _life.

As she quietly stepped around a darkened corner, her flashlight revealed a gang of Soldier-class BETA huddled in a hallway. They were slurping over piles of gore that must have been unlucky civilians who didn't make it out of the evacuation hours ago. The small mob instantly stopped what they were doing and raised their heads in unison when they smelled her warm blood.

Izumi backed up in horror. She raised her gun to shoot, but she couldn't stead her fingers enough to pull the trigger. It was the same petrifying feeling she felt when Yui's Zuikaku was cornered by a Destroyer-class and she hesitated to fire her TSF's machine gun. She had no problems hacking her way through BETA swarms and being part of the firing line when she was with the rest of her group, but she still faltered every time she came face-to-face with a live opponent by herself.

She saw there were three of them when they came closer to her light, and fresh food was always likely to draw many more. They crawled toward her in somewhat of a V formation, with the one in front quickly moving within arm's reach. It lunged at her hands once to send her locket skipping across the floor in one direction, then a second time to send her sidearm flying in the opposite direction.

Izumi's eyes were wide with fear. She stumbled all the way backwards and landed in a seated position. Her stalkers almost seemed to grin down at her with their sharp teeth and hungry eyes as she helplessly tried to squirm away from them.

And then the lead Soldier's head exploded.

Two more gunshots rang through the halls as the remaining BETA were put down with headshots. Izumi turned in disbelief to see Yui standing several feet away from her, holding a smoking pistol in her hands.

Izumi scurried on all fours to collect her precious locket. It took her longer to find her missing firearm, but she was back on her feet once she was properly armed. She stepped toward her squadmate to offer her a thankful smile.

"Thanks, Yu-..."

Her display of gratitude was interrupted by Yui's gloved palm angrily slapping her face.

"Damn it, Izumi! You can't keep freezing up like that every time you're in trouble! You're going to get us BOTH killed the next time it happens!"

Rubbing her cheek, she lowered her head in shame.

"I... I'm sorry."

All of her hopes for the future had gone up in flames the day she found out Ishiguro had been killed. She had wanted to become a pilot so she would eventually be able to support him on the battlefield, but vengeance became her sole motive once he was dead. It was the only thing she could ever think about after she had spent weeks crying herself to sleep each night. In her blind quest for revenge, she had lost everything that made her feel secure, she had almost suffered the worst death imaginable, and now she was bringing the rest of the team down with her. Her eyes began to well as all of her worst fears came rushing out in a single rambling stream.

"I shouldn't be here. I just wanted to make those monsters pay for what they did to Ishiguro. I never thought being a pilot would be this dangerous. I didn't think anything could hurt us as long as we had our TSFs. I didn't think those things actually... _ate _people. I'm not cut out for this. It's too much for me. I'll never be as brave as he was. I never should have tried to join the army like him."

Yui shook her head in growing regret. She placed a hand on Izumi's shoulder in sisterly support.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. We're all the in the same boat here. It's combat nerves. Yours are just a little worse because of all the other shit you've been through. What would your boyfriend think of you if you counted yourself out on your first mission?"

Izumi stopped to think about the question, then swallowed the rest of her tears and forced herself to firm up. After glancing toward her feet to collect her thoughts, she turned back toward Yui with a concerned look.

"I don't think we're going to get out of here on foot if there's a lot of Soldier-class crawling around. Did your Zuikaku make it through the crash?"

Yui hopelessly shook her head.

"It's totaled. I think I was thrown further than either of you guys. How's yours?"

Izumi answered with a similar gesture.

"I'm not sure. I'm able to get power in the cockpit, but interface was all scrambled and I couldn't get any readings. I don't think we can fix it."

Yui seemed to ponder to herself before she gave Izumi a curious glance.

"Let me take a look."

The two girls quickly made their way back to Izumi's TSF, where Yui spent some time tinkering with the cockpit controls. Izumi watched over her shoulder as the interior lighting at first kicked back on, then the Zuikaku's few remaining cameras activated. The joints in its arms were squealing in agony, but they were moving. With the cockpit hatch gone, there was only one screen left on the dashboard that told the pilots the machine was still operational.

Yui sounded like she was in higher spirits when she spoke.

"Looks like your controls just needed to be rerouted to the secondary OS. You might even be in the best shape out of all of us. The flight boosters are shot, but the structural damage on this thing technically isn't all that bad considering that Fort-class rammed it through a building."

Izumi tilted her head toward the console and blinked in astonishment.

"You can do that?"

Yui glanced over her shoulder with a sudden puzzled look.

"Well, yeah. Did you miss that part of the emergency tutorial or something?"

Izumi turned her eyes away as she timidly lowered her voice.

"I guess I wasn't paying attention. We only had that class a few days after..."

She stopped mid-sentence as she struggled with putting her thoughts into words. Yui already knew what she was trying to say and responded with a reassuring smile.

"It's okay. I'll help you get caught up when we get back."

Yui had just started to climb out of the seat when Izumi impulsively reached for her shoulders, prompting her to sit back down.

"I think you should be the one to pilot it, Yui. I'm still a little shaken up from all of this. I don't want to keep getting in the way."

Yui turned her head to shoot a stubborn glare.

"You're going to have to pull yourself together at somepoint, Izumi. You made it through training. You, me, and Yamashiro are the only ones who could make it this far, and we're going to have to depend on each other if we want to _keep_ making it. You can do this."

Her anger faded when she sighed. All things considered, her comrade was offering sound advice. She knew Izumi was already in a tough fight trying to overcome her trauma, and she didn't want to make it worse.

"But you're right. It's probably our safest bet if I take over for right now."

Izumi stabilized herself as best she could beside Yui's seat. Yui manually guided the unit to slowly climb to its feet. They were still exposed to the open air due to the ejected cockpit hatch, but now they had the higher ground over any more Soldier-class that may have been lurking around.

Once they were elevated, Yui made a final check of the equipment.

"There we go. It's not pretty, but it will hold. Now let's find Yamashiro."

Izumi's Zuikaku was only lumbering through the spacious halls of the complex for a few minutes before both pilots started picking up a weak radio feed from another nearby unit. Kazusa's voice came through the static in a barely audible whisper.

"Noto... please..."

Yui quickly perked at attention as she adjusted her headset.

"Yamashiro, it's me. I'm here with Izumi. Where are you?"

The radio responded with a few seconds of silence, followed by the sound of labored breathing. Then Kazusa said something any TSF pilot would dread to hear. The obvious rising panic in her voice only made it more chilling.

"Takamura... hurry... They're... almost inside..."

The squeal of bending metal in the distance suddenly told the two pilots where they needed to go.

All of their fears were confirmed when they found Kazusa's Zuikaku crumpled against a flight of concrete stairs. It was covered in a swarm of Tank-class BETA, and the giant red creatures had already spent some time picking off bits of its torso armor. They had just finished peeling the cockpit hatch away like the lid of a sardine can when their glowing beady eyes turned toward the second Zuikaku approaching them. With all of their interest in the cockpit of the disabled machine, there was no doubt the Tanks were after fresh meat.

It could only mean Kazusa was still inside. Frightened, alone, and inside.

Izumi watched apprehensively as Yui tightened her fists and shifted gears. She could see the strategy forming in Yui's eyes in the same instant. With no support, no weapons, and an already damaged TSF, it seemed like the setup for an insane last stand, but Kazusa was the only other pilot who had hung on as long as them. If they had any fighting chance of saving her, she at least deserved that much.

Izumi squeezed the locket in her palm. Yui never asked her for her opinion, but it didn't matter. She wouldn't have raised any objections anyway. All she could think about was how she had been in the same predicament only minutes earlier.

Yui waited just long enough to give her passenger some valuable advice through clenched teeth.

"Hold on. This is going to be a little bumpier than usual."

She wasn't joking. With the TSF's hydraulics rapidly wearing down and its shock absorbers already ruined, every impact it took rattled through the cockpit tenfold. Yui drove the Zuikaku straight into the Tanks and began tearing them away from Kazusa's downed unit with whatever raw strength she could get out of the hardware.

Zuikaku units weren't intended for barehanded combat, but due to the building's enclosed environment and the relatively small number of Tanks present, Yui was able get around her lack of practical weapons. She smashed some of the alien monsters with the TSF's closed fists, kicked others into the wall, and catapulted the rest straight into the air in the hope that gravity would at least immobilize them. It wasn't the most elegant form of warfare, but war wasn't supposed about art. It was about killing your enemy.

The battle went surprisingly well, until one particularly hungry Tank latched on to Izumi's Zuikaku only a few feet away from the cockpit. It persisted in clinging to the unit's shoulder, inching closer and closer toward the two exposed pilots no matter how much Yui tried to thrash it away. She could hardly give it more than a moment's notice with the number of Tanks still scurrying about on the ground.

"Shit, that one's getting too close! Take it out, Izumi!"

Izumi scrambled for her pistol. She used both hands to aim at what only could have been the Tank's face as her locket rested between her thumbs and clinked against the hammer. She inhaled sharply and told her fingers to pull the trigger.

They wouldn't listen. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Izumi, come on! Snap out of it! If I drop the controls they're ALL going to be climbing on us! Blow the damn thing's head off!"

No matter how much she wanted to fire the shot, no how hard she pushed herself, panic robbed her of the ability to react. The Tank crawled closer to her cockpit and tried to reach inside. She was looking death straight in the eye for the second time since her crash.

Yui's voice screamed from some distant void behind her. Her normally level-headed partner had never sounded so desperate before.

"_**Izumi!**_"

The Tank's mouth had opened wide enough to swallow her and Yui whole. She could see straight down its gullet. She could feel its hot breath heaving against her face. Yui was already struggling to win her own battle. Kazusa was helplessly trapped in her mangled wreckage. The Tank was going to kill all three of them if she didn't stop it.

Just like it killed Ishiguro.

All of her rage came flooding out in a sudden hysterical scream. While Yui stomped her way through remaining creatures on the ground, Izumi found the strength to squeeze her eyes shut and rapidly pull the trigger. One bullet left a hole in the back of the Tank's open mouth. Another ruptured one of its eyes. A third knocked out some of its lower teeth and lodged somewhere in its jaw. She continued to fire until she had emptied the entire clip.

Everything was silent once Izumi's senses returned to normal. When she nervously opened one of her eyes, the first thing she saw Ishiguro's smiling face dangling in front of her. She removed one of her hands from the gun and lowered her locket back to her side as she opened the other eye.

The Tank was hovering over the cockpit with a third of its frontal features blown away. It twitched for a few seconds, then plummeted lifelessly to the ground.

Yui leaned back into her seat and let out a deep sigh of relief. She took a moment to collect herself before turning toward Izumi.

"That was cutting it a little close, but you saved all three of our hides. That's all that matters."

She gave her partner a warm pat on the shoulder as she smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, Izumi."

Izumi's eyes remained fixated on her locket the entire time. As she tried to make sense of her swirling emotions and slowly came down from her own shock, Yui gave her some careful words of support.

"I bet you feel better now that you got revenge for your boyfriend."

That was when it finally struck her, and she broke her silence in a shy voice.

"Not really..."

Yui was slightly confused by this. Izumi raised her head to reveal a new look of relief growing on her face.

"I mean, that's definitely part of it, but it's not driving me nuts any more. I'm just glad I was finally able to do something that helped someone other than me."

Her eyes grew a little moist as she smiled.

"I... I think he would have been proud of me."

Yui's response was short, but it was all Izumi needed to hear.

"He's not the only one."

Once the two girls had collected themselves, Yui lifted herself out of her seat and left the controls to Izumi.

"Stay put for a second. I'm going to check on Yamashiro. I need you to stand guard in case any more Tanks show up."

Izumi acknowledged her with a determined nod.

"Roger."

Yui climbed down the leg of the Izumi's Zuikaku and cautiously waded through a sea of dead Tanks toward Kazusa's machine. She disappeared into the unit's darkened cockpit for several minutes. Izumi couldn't make out what exactly what was happening inside, but Yui's voice soon crackled over her receiver to give her the news.

"Hey, Kazusa's hurt pretty bad, but I might be able get her Zuikaku at least moving around if I cover for her. Will you be okay on your own?"

Izumi calmly answered, turning her head to monitor her surroundings.

"I think so."

There were a few more minutes of silence, then Kazusa's Zuikaku whirred back to life. It noisily struggled to lift itself up from the base of the stairs, prompting Izumi to walk closer and offer it an extra hand. With her help, it was finally able to stand on its feet in all its brutalized glory. When it began to lurch forward, Izumi heard Yui speaking to her injured passenger over the radio.

"Hang in there. I know it's not very comfortable, but you won't even care once we get out of here alive."

Izumi could only hear Kazusa painfully murmur something in the background of the static. Part of her mumbling sounded like "Sorry about the whole rival thing."

Izumi and Yui agreed their best bet now would be to stay near the city streets, where they could be easily seen by any passing allies. The two Zuikakus spent several minutes limping through the complex before the first signs of help finally appeared. All three girls looked up from their damaged cockpits to see a series of lights descending from the air just above them.

Salvation came in the form of single blue Takemikazuchi that landed just in of them. It unsheathed one of its melee weapons in standard cautionary procedure, scanned the darkened environment, then finally came to a halt once it saw the coast was clear.

A woman's voice crackled from the unit's radio.

"You must be the Arashiyama team. Half of the platoon has been looking for you ever since that Fort-class showed up."

Yui responded through her own transmitter.

"Cadet First Class Takamura, reporting. Cadet Noto is in the other Zuikaku. Cadet Yamashiro is in the cockpit with me and needs medical attention. Her right arm is fractured and she's suffered minor head trauma."

The other pilot glanced toward Yui's open cockpit and spoke in a reassuring tone.

"We'll have her patched up in no time. Is it just the three of you?"

Yui answered with a solemn nod.

"The rest of the unit didn't make it. The two TSFs we have left are barely functional as it is."

"Don't worry. I activated my beacon the moment I saw you moving around down here. We'll be able transport you for the rest of the withdrawal."

The Takemikazuchi made another quick sweep of the room before its pilot spoke again.

"Nobody wanted you to go through _this _for your first combat mission, but the three of you must make for a pretty good a team if you were able to survive without your squadron leader in this hellhole."

Yui motioned toward her teammate in the other Zuikaku, sneaking a friendly grin into her words.

"I handled most of the tactical work, but Cadet Noto was the brains of the operation. The BETA would be having all of us for dinner if it weren't for her help."

The Takemikazuchi turned its cameras toward Izumi's unit.

"Is that so, Miss Noto?"

Izumi was caught off guard by this. It was the first time she had ever been the center of attention, and she stuttered through her modest response.

"I... I just listened to Yui and tried to do anything I could to help, Ma'am! She's the real hero."

The pilot of the Takemikazuchi chuckled lightly to herself.

"Interesting. I'll be anxious to see your report."

More lights began appearing high in the air. The rescue team arrived, and Izumi and her teammates were soon being lifted to safety.

As she looked down on the burning landscape, she knew Kyoto falling. After everything she'd been through, however, she refused to let it discourage her. She had already made up her mind she'd be part of the TSF force that would win it back, along every other country the BETA had overwhelmed. She wasn't going to let Ishiguro down. She wasn't going to let anyone down anymore.


	2. My Purest Heart for YOU

_"I want us to be together."_

- Kasumi Yashiro

* * *

Walking out of the hospital tent and into the sunlight, Yui spotted Izumi sitting in the grass outside. The girl had her knees up to her chin and was silently overlooking the ruined capital through her glasses, deep in secluded thought. She turned her head only when Yui quietly took a seat beside her.

"Is Kazusa going to be okay?"

Yui offered her a friendly smile.

"She'll be fine. She's still a little spooked over those Tanks almost getting her and she'll be out until her arm heals, but you know how she is. She'll be the same stubborn bitch when she gets back."

They both gazed toward the devastation below while they continued talking.

"So what are you thinking about doing, Izumi? It's not very often you have someone from the Shogun family apologizing to _you _and offering you an honorable discharge if you think this is too much for you. Do you still want out?"

"No. Not now. I want to make sure things like Kyushu and Kyoto never happen again."

Izumi stared at the remains of the city for a few more moments, then shifted her attention toward her palm. Her thumb traced over the portrait in her pendant.

"It's just, I'm not sure being in the Royal Guard is the best way to do it. No offense, but I don't want to just sit in some royal palace until the BETA are at the front door. I want to be out there helping on the frontlines. I want to hit them where it hurts before they even have a chance to do something like this."

"You're thinking about enrolling in one of the UN academies."

Yui always had a knack for catching on to what she was trying to say. Izumi sighed as she glanced back toward the city.

"I'm not sure if I should really do it, though. The Notos aren't exactly one of the most famous samurai families, but I still have a duty to follow since I'm one of them. Yuuhi needs me here."

"She'll support your decision either way, Izumi. She knows how brave you are for still wanting to have anything to do with the war after what happened to the rest of the team. She considers protecting the rest of the world to be just as noble as protecting Japan."

Izumi stopped to think to herself. She then curiously turned toward Yui.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going stick around in the Guard. I don't want to walk out when my uncle needs me here and I'm one of the Shogun's direct vassals."

Yui's mouth formed a friendly smirk.

"Besides, Yamashiro will get lonely if I'm not around to help her clean the Zuikakus anymore."

She reverted to a more serious expression before continuing.

"I heard the Commander of the UN base hates anyone she doesn't get to train from the ground up. She'll probably chew you out the moment she finds out you almost finished your Royal Guard classes. Think you can handle it by yourself?"

Izumi answered with a slow but certain nod.

"I think that's what I need right now. You two already have the whole soldier mentality going, but I've been spending all this time goofing around with the other girls. I'll be better off if I start over from scratch, so I can actually take the training seriously this time."

Yui patted her companion's shoulder for support. She had to force herself not to cry, knowing they would never grow up together and this could be the last time they ever talk to each other.

"Good luck, Izumi."

* * *

_Vice Commander's Notes, 09.17.1998: Began screening new TSF pilot applications. Successful trainees will join Special Task Force A-01 upon graduation._

* * *

_09.24.1998: Noto, Izumi. A peculiar one. Royal Guard trainee who was smart enough to drop out before I wouldn't want anything to do with her. Not as raw as I would like, but possesses enough key traits to make me curious. Lower end of the age range, lost her boyfriend in the initial BETA invasion, one of the few living eye witnesses to the Kyoto disaster. Piloting potential is a virtual unknown, but her survival instincts are extraordinary. _ _Willing to throw out everything she was already taught and start over with the Alternative IV curriculum without a single complaint._

_If she sticks to her word and makes it through training, we might just find some routine position for her. If she ends up repeating the same mistakes as her first squad in Kyoto, survival of the fittest will get her out of my hair._

ACCEPTED

* * *

_01.02.1999: Latest wave of Alternative IV recruits completed basic training. No retakes this time._

* * *

_08.09.1999: Operation Lucifer successful. One living human specimen was found in the hive. Subject's ability to defy all logical probability and survive the living hell the BETA put it through makes it an ideal candidate. Will be sustained for further research._

_Additionally, several surviving A-01 pilots were briefly exposed to the perimeter of the G-Bomb blasts during the withdrawal. Subjects will be monitored as they recover. There appear to be no serious lasting effects._

* * *

_10.22.2001: Spoke with Prisoner 3759 today. The guards found him wandering through the old city. Claims to be a dead man named Takeru Shirogane. Kept rambling about how he's from an alternate universe where the BETA never invaded and he's some plucky high school kid with too many girlfriends. Figured he was another homeless nutcase and almost had him shipped to the psychiatric wing._

_But then he started talking about Alternative V in exact detail._

_Consulted with Kasumi. I doubted it could ever physically happen, but according to the boy's memories he's telling the truth.  
_

_Seems Sumika was closely tied to the original Takeru before Japan fell. Thanks to what appears to be a space-time distortion resulting from a combination of G-Bomb fallout and hive Reactor activity, she was able to bring this alternate Takeru into our universe so he can fill the void left by the original. And she has apparently done this in at least one other universe already, hence why he knows about Alternative V so far ahead of time. The information he can give us may be exactly what Alternative IV needs to ensure its completion.  
_

* * *

_10.24.2001: Kasumi is acting extremely odd, even considering the latest developments. She spent the past several nights scribbling out page after page of the same puzzling thing. The text is nothing but incomprehensible scratch marks, but every page shares the distinct format of a handwritten letter. When I tried to get a closer look at one of the papers, she became extremely protective of her sketchings and would only tell me they're "from him." It's as if she's shy about sharing them.  
_

_All that matters is Sumika is apparently becoming more mentally active as a result of the second Takeru's arrival. Why she would have so many memories of exchanging long-distance love letters with a boy who lived just beside her all of her life, I have no idea, but the exact details are not particularly important to my goals.  
_

* * *

_10.27.2001: Kasumi's artwork has taken a turn for the morbid. A city on fire, face-to-face contact with multiple strains of BETA, and finally the outcome of Operation Lucifer. All of this is consistent with what we've discerned about Sumika's background. One thing has begun to bother me, however._

_The drawings depict the outside __of the hive at the time of the bombings._  


* * *

_10.29.2001: The images are coming from a second stream. The reason why Kasumi's most recent drawings are divergent from Sumika's previous recorded memories is because they were never part of Sumika's memories to begin with. I should have suspected this sooner.  
_

_The fact Kasumi has been automatically receiving information at this magnitude can only mean one thing. Someone within range of the original trans-dimensional anomaly that allowed Sumika to bring the second Takeru into existence is making their own subconscious effort to reach through the pipeline. Considering this is only the second instance of someone exerting enough willpower to have an observable effect on space-time causality, it is imperative that I identify the exact cause of this phenomenon.  
_

_ I tried to have Kasumi trace the source of these new images. After hours of concentration, she was able to show me one thing: A drawing of the A-01 flight emblem. I will be interviewing each member in Valkyrie barracks over the next few days.  
_

_Didn't one of them say something about a boyfriend before?_

* * *

UN ALTERNATIVE IV - RESTRICTED DATABANK

USER VERIFIED: Y. KOUZUKI

RADIO CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE: ARASHIYAMA SUPPLY POST, 07.31.1998

"Izumi, fall back! Izumi!"

"Shut up, Yui! I won't run away!"

"Revenge! I have to get revenge for him!"

"You!"

"You!"

"_**You!**_"

[file terminated by User]

* * *

_10.30.2001: Lieutenant Izumi Noto is creating the second anomaly. This is the only possible explanation. Her personnel file is startling evidence on its own, and I lost count of how many red flags I was picking up within the first couple of minutes speaking with her. I have concluded this increased distortion in the space-time continuum can be traced back to her time as a Royal Guard cadet. _

_Around that time, she was in a relationship with a boy who was deployed to the Kyushu ground forces. He was one of the first to be killed when the BETA reached the mainland three years ago. She claims his death is only a small part of her motivation today, but I can see it in her eyes. She never truly got over it. She just learned how to harness her emotions in a way that helps her focus on protecting the rest of her squadron. Ask anyone in the PX and they'll tell you the easiest way to recognize her is that trinket she wears every day. I suspect it's her refusal to let go of her loved one and her ability draw strength from his memory that made her a candidate in the first place. _

_Three key variables have given Izumi this ability. First, the photograph in the locket she always carries must act as some form of visual prompt, effectively providing her subconsciousness a set of coordinates in the space-time continuum. In this case, those coordinates point to a time and place where her boyfriend is alive. Second, being in close proximity to the Yokohama Hive at the time the Reactor resonated with the G-Bomb blasts has supplied her mind with a means of interdimensional locomotion. Finally, Sumika taking the first leap and creating a pipeline (i.e. bringing the second Takeru here and leaving a finite path between his world and ours) has given Izumi a way to retrace her own coordinates. She's unconsciously developing her own abilities by piggybacking on the existing causality opened by Takeru and Sumika. _

_Why hasn't she brought an entire second anomaly into this world, if she is indeed trying to reach her personal conductor? I have several hypotheses. Her subconscious willpower may not be as developed as Sumika's due to Sumika spending years cut off from all other physical interference and thinking about nothing but Takeru. Also, the individual Izumi may be "tugging on" through the pipeline is either also deceased in the second Takeru's universe, or never existed there to begin with. Third, and I suspect this to be the most likely case, she may simply not be exerting as much willpower as Sumika. Sumika witnessed the death of her beloved first hand and was reduced to a prisoner of her own mind, constantly screaming to be rescued. Izumi's background is similar in a few ways, but it is nowhere near as drastic. Her record indicates she faced her own share of misery and suffered from temporary psychosis during the last month of her Royal Guard training, but whatever happened to her after her TSF blacked out over Kyoto was enough to help her cope with her trauma.  
_

_Additionally, and as absurd as it sounds, I feel Izumi's subconsciousness could be acting this way because it doesn't want to be discovered. While all of her conscious decision-making is firmly anchored in the present (__focusing on her current objectives and protecting her squadmates_), she has essentially hidden her subconsciousness at a point in the past where her lover is still alive, and her mind doesn't want to intrude on what it perceives as Takeru and Sumika's time together. This would explain Kasumi seemed shy when she began channeling Izumi's thoughts.  


_So far all this means is Izumi is performing elaborate mental gymnastics to reinforce her own willpower. She appears to have no idea her personal thoughts have been sending small ripples through the fabric of space-time for at least the past week. I will continue observing this phenomenon in the hope of finding some practical use for it._

* * *

_11.23.2001: Izumi has begun working with Cadet Squadron 207B. Officially, she was selected out of our best pilots to serve as a senior technical adviser for the proposed XM3 operating system. If nothing else, she does have the legitimate experience to analyze each of Takeru's suggestions on the spot so we'll spend less time weeding out problems when the rest of A-01 joins the trial phase. Unofficially, I'm curious to see what kind of effect Izumi will have if I allow her to fraternize with a walking causality conductor._

_She seems anxious to return to active duty with her Valkyrie squadmates, but something tells me she already knows from personal experience why insisting you should be rushed to the front lines just because you really want to kill some BETA is not always the best course of action. Despite this, she hasn't raised a single objection over an assignment that could easily be interpreted as a demotion. Maybe she holds more respect for cadets as a result of her own rough start.  
_

_The squad was surprised to find out someone their own age had nearly three years of regular piloting experience over them, but they haven't asked too many questions concerning her past. Tsukuyomi and her subordinates know exactly who she is, but their usual insistence on keeping Imperial matters in-house works to my advantage in this case. Mitsurugi has her suspicions, I suppose. The others have accepted her as just another squadmate with a conflicted family background and are respecting her privacy.  
_

_The interesting part about all of this is Takeru has no recollection of Izumi's existence in any of his previous worlds. The only thing he knows for certain is interacting with her triggers one specific image of a time when he and the Sumika from his world shared their lunch with a stray dog. Based on my current theories and the limited feedback Takeru has given me, the only conclusion I can draw from this is the Izumi Noto of some other possible universe exists in the form of a hamburger. I guess no theory can be right all the time.  
_

* * *

_12.05.2001: UN forces have been dispatched to end the rebellion of Naoya Sagiri. 207B and __19th Royal Guard _will be defending Her Highness's most probable escape route. Kasumi showed up early this morning, stated "It begins again," then quietly returned to Sumika's room.  


* * *

_12.07.2001: Received a formal congratulatory letter from the Grand Shogun. She thanked the UN for helping her in desperate times and made a special note for the 207 cadets. She then had this to say about Izumi:  
_

"Her concern for my safety throughout the retreat rivaled that of my most devoted personal guards. I fear she has spent the past several years convincing herself she owes me her life, and I wish not to burden her with any such belief after so many already died for my sake. Please inform her any debt she still feels she owes me from the assistance I provided her in Kyoto has been repaid in kind."

_The letter went on to state Izumi has proven herself to be a true Royal Guard and will be offered the title as long as it doesn't interfere with her existing duty. I have authorized her to accept the position on the condition she remains a member of Alternative IV until the project's completion.  
_

* * *

_12.26.2001: UN's Prominence division has pitched a specialized XFJ prototype as a possible option for Operation Ouka. I refuse to allow an unsanctioned test pilot to participate in the mission due to all the obvious uncertainties involved, but both members from the Japan side are insisting I won't have to worry because one of my existing pilots is qualified to take the helm. I'm still hesitant to throw a wildcard into the equation. _

_Then again, Izumi herself has been a wildcard ever since Kyoto.  
_

* * *

_ 12.30.2001: Lieutenants Takamura and Yamashiro were very adamant in the emergency video conference. They're doing this because they genuinely believe it will help their friend. They learned early on that rivalries and personal agendas have no place on the battlefield when the main __objective is to help each other survive. I'm convinced if any one of the three had wound up on the mission, the other two would given her nothing but total support and encouragement. They are all extremely fortunate one of them was able to make the decisions that would lead her to this position.  
_

_The exchange will occur under the official purpose of accumulating invaluable performance data through extensive on-field use. __I signed off for the delivery after Izumi had a chance to try the software simulator herself. She was surprised even Miki had trouble keeping track of the multi-view targeting system, but everything came naturally for her because "I can't really describe it, but it's like I'm able to put my brain in six different places at once." Funny how things work out. _

_In regards to the prototype itself, I was wondering what kind of particularly sick mind would come up with the suggestion of renovating the equipment racks on a TSF's shoulder armor and Jump Units so they could be loaded with what amounts to half a dozen SDS-grade explosives. At first I brushed it off as typical American overkill, but then I discovered one of the Japanese project leaders was deeply traumatized as a child when she was trapped in a disabled TSF and a swarm of Equus nearly devoured her alive. In any case, the fact this technology was developed independently from the Yokohama network means there's a slight chance the Original Hive BETA have no information pertaining to its existence. This may very well be the only thing we can throw at them that they'll never see coming. _

_____And remodeling the Shiranui's head sensor with a central horn so it can used as a remote weapons antenna? I can't help but feel a little disappointed I didn't come up with that idea myself. _Assuming I wouldn't notice they added the initials for "House Noto" to its model number since they lacked the time and authority to christen it as a proper Royal Guard unit was a bit uncalled for, but it's clever enough to convince me it technically doesn't breach the pilot confidentiality protocol. Besides, I'm more concerned with Meiya having enough time to reconfigure the unit's radio marker on such short notice.  


_A sad, lonely little girl who never should have survived Kyoto now has every major power block left in the world betting on her. Alaska will have the satisfaction of knowing their machine made a difference at Kashgar. __The UN couldn't be happier with one of their hand-selected pilots in the cockpit._ The Royal Guards even get to have someone directly representing their virtue and honor in the battle that saved mankind.  


_Don't disappoint us.  
_


	3. The House Party Protocol

_"We're going to fight the BETA together!"  
_

- Aki Iwami

* * *

"Target located. ETA five minutes."

Kasumi spoke over Susanoo's radio in her usual stoic tone. The lower halls of the Kashgar Hive were eerily quiet compared to the chaos occurring on the upper floors. With the hive's reactor in the immediate vicinity, Takeru was surprised there was nothing trying to stop him.

He would regret that thought.

The cockpit alarm suddenly screamed in full alert. What had been a sparsely populated radar map a second ago now showed a massive cloud of bogies funneling into the lower hall. BETA offensives were only this big when they were getting ready to level a city, and this one was pouring down behind him.

"Enemy reinforcements are coming from the rear! They'll catch up to us any second!"

Meiya was the first to respond to his signal.

"Damn it, they must have dug around me! Are there any Valkyries in your sector?"

He desperately searched the radar for the smallest ray of hope. His eyes stopped on one particular blip.

"There's one right behind us."

Toggling the comm channel, he instantly recognized the unit's Royal Guard call sign.

"It's Izumi."

* * *

Izumi finished hacking her way through what little remained of a Grappler assault. Just as the final blow connected, her PB Blade buckled under hours of constant stress and burst into metallic splinters. She would have liked to still have a melee option, but she was thankful her sword had held out for this long.

Her reprieve was cut short by an incoming transmission. A panel showing Takeru's face opened in the corner of her screen.

"Izumi, there's a huge wave of BETA on our tail. They're heading straight toward you!"

She consulted her radar and saw the same troubling sight as Takeru. Her attention then flashed toward to the six panels spanning the top of her screen. Each provided her a first person view from a series pillar-shaped turrets she had stationed nearby. Most of them were completely depleted, and checking the Shiranui's handheld Assault Cannon came up with similar results.

"I'm out of ammo, and my PB Blade's screwed! What should we do?"

"We need a few more minutes. If they make it down here, they'll be all over us. There's no way we'll be able to hold them off and deal with the reactor at the same time!"

With nowhere else to turn, Izumi glanced toward her palm. She always carried her locket during missions, hoping it would give her some form of guidance in times like this. Seeing the image of her younger self, her thoughts drifted back to her days in flight academy. She remembered the last thing the training Captain had taught his three surviving students in Kyoto.

Her fist closed tightly around the locket.

"Forget about the BETA. Just worry about getting to the core and let Sumika do her thing. I'll hold the line."

Takeru shot a confused look through her monitor.

"But you just said..."

Izumi cut him off with a reaffirmed voice.

"I said _I'll hold the line_. We're not going to let them overwhelm us, not when we're this close and the whole world is counting on us."

"How the hell are you going to stop them?"

She entered the sequence '2-2-4-3' on her console, causing a new panel to open just above her hand.

It was the Shiranui's self-destruct mechanism.

"Landmines."

"What are you talking about? You don't have any landmines."

She steered her TSF toward the closest pillar and pulled its anchor out of the ground. The weapon was hastily planted next to the corridor wall before she moved to the next.

"I'm sitting in one. The sentries give me another six to work with. I figure if I wait until they're right on top me, the explosions will take out the Destroyers in the front and the trench will slow the other ones in the back. Maybe I'll even get the ceiling to collapse."

"But the only way you can make the sentries self-destruct is..."

Izumi was halfway through the hop to the next turret when his words trailed off.

"From the cockpit. I know. And each of their SD-Systems are only a third as powerful as the S-11 on the Shiranui. The best chance we have is if I throw everything in their faces in one big bang. You'll never have enough time to retrieve me, anyway."

It was easier for both of them if she didn't flat out admit she was going to die.

Izumi staked the second weapon into the ground several yards away from the first one. The two sentries were beginning to form a row that would extend from wall to wall.

"Once you get out of this mess, can you pass a message to Yui for me? Tell her I wanted to thank her for helping me back when I needed it the most. She'll know what I'm talking about."

The third turret was secured in place. Izumi left a wider gap between three and four so she would have a place in the center of the arrangement.

"And tell her and Kazusa I'm sorry I ended up wrecking all this test equipment they let me borrow. Yukon probably won't even need it anymore if everything works out here, but I still feel bad since they had to pull so many strings getting it to me in time for the launch. I promised them I'd take care of it."

The fifth and six sentries completed the defensive line.

"Kazusa's been bragging all week about how this thing was designed for area denial. She'll at least be glad I got to prove it's not just for show."

Takeru's response was all the relief she needed.

"I'll make sure they know. Kasumi is recording everything."

She boosted back to the center of the arrangement, directing the Shiranui to stand in position with three sentries on either side. All she had to do now was wait.

"Thanks, Takeru. You already know how sorry I am for everything you've been through."

Takeru lowered his voice in an attempt to console her.

"Come on, we've gone over this. You were just a cadet back then. You did everything you could. None of that was your fault."

She looked down toward her lap, pondering if that was really the case.

"My very first mission was to defend the capital and stop the BETA from going any further in Japan. Sumika suffered more than anyone after we failed. Lady Yuuhi told me the same thing you did when we were retreating, but I still feel responsible for what happened. I feel like I could have done more if I hadn't been so stupid with my whole revenge thing."

Pushing her doubts aside, she gazed down the still empty corridor. One of first and most important things she had learned was there was no value in lamenting over past mistakes. All that mattered was fighting for a brighter future.

"Just remember what I said before. No matter what you and Sumika have gone through or how much time you have left, the important part is you have a second chance together. That's more than Ishiguro and I ever had."

She couldn't help but giggle quietly.

"He's been waiting for me for three and a half years. Aki and Shimako have probably been trading him back and forth by now."

A row of Destroyer-class finally made appeared on her screen, storming toward her from the distance. She stared Death in the eye with a peaceful smile on her face.

"Did I ever tell you how he died? They said the BETA charged straight into the tank fleet when they reached Kyushu. A line of Destroyers came right out of the water and just mowed the entire battalion down."

"Izumi, you shouldn't think about things like that right now."

Takeru had mistaken her subtle happiness for hopeless despair. There was something cute about how he was always a little oblivious about everything.

"I'll be okay, Takeru. It actually makes me feel a little closer to him knowing we're going to go out the same way."

Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"I guess we're going to save the human race together after all."

Takeru hesitated in his response.

"Izumi, I... I don't know what to tell you..."

Izumi shook her head to regain her composure. There was one more thing she still had to do to earn her closure. If she let anything happen to the Susanoo or its crew, the world would lose its only chance of defeating the BETA. The hopes and dreams of all of humanity were resting on her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it. Just concentrate on Target A and let me cover you."

Her final transmission was the same promise she had been fighting to keep ever since she became a pilot.

"I won't let you guys down."

Once the comm channel was closed, Izumi reached for the self-destruct button with the same hand that held her locket. Facing the approaching BETA forces down with steely eyes, she muttered under her breath.

"Come on, you monsters. I'm ready for you."

They were almost on her. There must have been thousands of them charging straight into her meager defensive formation. She had just enough time to say two simple words as they infested every pixel on her screen.

"Eat this."

Her thumb squeezed the detonator.

* * *

**XFJ-01HN**

**[SIGNAL LOST]**

The tiny error message was all that remained of the icon that used to represent Izumi. The only thing that prevented Takeru from breaking down on the spot was the miracle that followed.

A enormous cluster of BETA blips vanished from his screen at the exact spot of Izumi's last recorded location. The rest crowded together in a parallel formation, as if an invisible wall was blocking their path. Her sacrifice had completely halted the BETA pursuit.

Takeru continued to drift through the winding halls of the hive. When he finally entered what looked like the central chamber, Kasumi verified they had reached their destination.

"Primary Objective identified. 220 meters from firing range."

In the center of the grand hall, a single six-eyed abomination rose out of a crater of writhing tentacles. Takeru was soon the first human being in history to see the thing that had been plaguing the planet and slowly driving mankind to extinction.

With the help of all the comrades who had fought with him and given their lives along the way, he now had an opportunity to destroy the supreme power source of all BETA forces on Earth. If he was successful, the war would be over. If he failed, the world would be doomed.


End file.
